BASEBALL | A Hawk-filled weekend

Yale baseball will play four games this weekend after having its games against UConn and CCSU cancelled this past week.

The Elis (5–8) will face Hartford (1–11–1) in back-to-back doubleheaders: Saturday at Hartford, and Sunday at Yale Field. Depending on the weather, Sunday’s two games will be the Bulldogs’ first time competing at home this season.

“[In order to win] we have to pitch well for all four games and play good defense,” captain Andy Megee ’11 said.

Hartford has typically posed no challenge to the Bulldogs in the past.

The Elis had a 3–1 record over the Hawks last year. Yale’s one loss came in the first game with a one run margin in extra innings, 7–8. But, the Bulldogs took command of the next three games, with convincing 12–7, 10–0 and 17–5 wins.

“The only team that can beat us is ourselves,” Megee concluded.

The offense has looked strong for the Elis. The Bulldogs have scored more than four runs in eight of their games this season. Megee has 11 RBIs and a .333 thus far this season.

But the Bulldog defense has not fared as well. Megee said the team has placed much emphasis on pitching, but the Bulldogs have struggled with a 6.59 ERA through 13 games. Still, some individual performances have shown improvement from last year. Brook Hart ’11, who had a 6.26 ERA last year, has a 1.62 ERA through 11.1 innings so far this season.

“I think an important part of pitching is to get a routine down and work everyday,” Hart said. “You just need to keep working at it everyday. I think we have a couple of guys doing different things and they are starting to figure it out. I think we will start to see improvement going forward as early as this weekend.”

The Bulldogs are slated to make up their game against No. 19 UConn on April 12, but their game against Central Connecticut has not yet been rescheduled.

“We definitely wanted to play,” Megee said. “It does help guys get some rest and work on things we need to work on in practice.”

Play is set to start at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday at Hartford, and 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Sunday at Yale.